Navy Screws Up - Sends Reporter Details On Avoiding His FOIA Request

Following a Washington reporter's request to the Navy to turn over documents related to the Navy Yard Shooting, a US Navy official mistakenly forwarded an internal email outlining instructions on exactly how to avoid his Freedom of Information request. As RT reports, hours after NBC's Scott Macfarlane's tweets on the matter went viral, the Navy "regretted the incident" and re-iterated its "commitment to transparency."

Via RT,

Scott MacFarlane, a news reporter for NBC 4 in Washington, DC, had filed a FOIA request with the Navy in an attempt to compel authorities to turn over documents related to the Navy Yard shooting in September. MacFarlane was seeking memos written by higher-ups at Naval Sea Systems Command from September, October, and November 2013--messages sent by the same officials in the hours directly after the shooting occurred, and images of building 197 at the Navy Yard, where the gunman killed 12 people and injured three others.

The Navy’s FOIA office confirmed that it had received MacFarlane’s request, but instead of sending him the relevant documents, they inadvertently sent an internal email containing instructions on how to avoid the reporter’s request. MacFarlane tweeted a screenshot of the message – which included the name of Robin Patterson, the Navy’s FOIA public liaison – accompanied by the phrase “EPIC FAILURE.”

“I think the appropriate response is ‘cameras are prohibited from the premises, with the exception of ‘official photos’ of specific events and assemblies, or ceremonies, such as retirements,” the email read, in part. “This request is too broad to tie to the specific event. If you discover that there is a ‘photo library,’ I would recommend negotiating with the requester..."

...

FOIA workers advised each other to avoid turning over information by telling MacFarlane his request was too broad and would constitute a “fishing expedition,” and that he should “narrow the scope of his request.”

“Again, another ‘fishing expedition,’” the screenshot shows. “[J]ust because they are media doesn’t mean the memos shed light on specific government activities.”

Officials also singled out one of MacFarlane’s requests in particular, noting “this one is specific enough that we may be able to deny it. However, I want to talk with the FBI as they may have ‘all the emails during that time, in their possession.’”

...

Just hours after MacFarlane’s tweets went viral, the Navy’s Twitter feed published a series of messages addressing the military’s respect for the FOIA process.

We have hired a massive governmental system to specifically protect us from ourselves as "we know not what we do". Its like we have voluntarily committed ourselves to a mental institution because our "loved ones" and other very smart and caring people have told us its for our own protection. Of course they were not particularly forthcoming about the fact that we might be able to check out but we can never leave. It is amazing how they can be caught red handed at these things and then throw out a few tepid apologies and denials and then act like it never happened. As Hillary would say "What does it matter anyway!" She's right. We are fucked and we all know it.

indeed. I don't even need a spell checker most of the time & no grammar checker's ever been accurate enough to be worth using.It's actually one particular English teacher I can credit for my good spelling. Way, way back in the days of BBS's (which I'm sure is poorly pluralized but I don't give a fuck), I was corrected repeatedly on spelling & grammar.Since that wasn't 'work' it was just a hobby it just goes to show how much one particular teacher cared. And in trolling form. I am an honorary graduate of spelling-trolling school :-)

We regret to inform you that your FOIA request cannot be fufilled due a MOST unfortunate series of events resulting in a complete database failure, fire, and tragic shreading accident. However, the USN takes your requests very serious and will be happy to comply with any and all future requests.*

We regret to further inform you that the records from investigation into the unfortunate database failure, fire and tragic shredding accident, have themselves been lost in an unfortunate explosion. The investigation into the subsequent explosion is ongoing.

any network hiccup & zh does this.I've got a temporary solution since I never have this problem with any other site.I prepare my comment, I save a small one once, and when I see it went through I re-open it.Doesn't matter how many times the 'save' event is sent by accident, on an edit there's only one message, on a new post it would create a new one every time.Once I got a quadruple post. That's embarassing.

I hope this reporter drives a manual transmission car and not an automatic that may unexplicably accelerate into a tree thanks to computer controlled throtle and electric steering (drive by wire, die by fire).

Hey he should also make sure he is not close to shore where a stray shell accidentaly launched from a ship can take out his house at 2am

Here's the $64000 question: who was in those homes when they blew up? Fuel-air explosions can be very powerful. But consider the odds of two homes in the same place at the same time each having gas leaks that reach perfect stoichemtry before "accidentally" igniting. Pretty similar to the odds of two massive 110-story skyscrapers in the same place on the same day collapsing into their basements due to burning kerosene.

He was a genius and developed wireless electric plasma lights. Plasma lights use a Radio Frequency power supply that converts Electrical power to Radio Frequency (RF) power. Energy savings of up to 70%."

Many, many reasons a gifted researcher into those type of technologies might have a nasty accident.

i'm always surprised in organizations as large as the navy, and as full of physically brave men as the navy, that there is less pushback to this kind of nonsense. not one person has the common sense to say 'i'm not going to do that.' i would think there would be thousands